Interstellar

Interstellar is an absolute rollercoaster of a movie. The tone switches almost constantly, and, while that isn’t necessarily an issue, it became noticeable fairly quickly. Of all his non-batman films, interstellar is the one clearly made specifically for the general theatre audience. While it has all of the classic Nolan moves, Interstellar clearly valued the visual style over the story. However, through this, Nolan still managed to make a very well made and compelling blockbuster. As I mentioned, a large part of why Interstellar works so well is the way the film looks. Almost every shot is inspired in a genius creative sense, the only exception to that is the surprisingly bland interior of the space ship, where most of the film takes place. While I understand the intention of the bland space ship interior, it simply doesn’t fit with the visual style of the rest of the movie. One specifically impressive visual moment is the moment where they realize that the “mountains” are actually giant waves. This is something unlike what I have seen in any other movie, and that’s something Nolan can do well. Nolan is able to make something completely new and inventive and introduce it to the medium of film without having it seem out of place. Overall, making something with as much creativity in the look of a film adds to the impact. Another unique aspect of Interstellar that added to the impact is the music, or, Hans Zimmer falls asleep on his Pipe Organ for two hours. Using a pipe organ shouldn’t work, it should make the whole film feel like a trip to church, but, the pipe organ sound adds to the feeling of an empty void that is space, asking the question “are we alone” that Interstellar subtly focuses on throughout the film. Interstellar is full of these deeper themes. Although I do appreciate it, the themes that are presented aren’t as unique as the rest of the film. The themes don’t seem to have any meaning to the characters or the overall story, almost as if they were thrown in at the last minute. Too give an example of this, the ending where Matthew Mcconaughey sees his daughter one last time before she dies could have meant much more if he actually stayed to watch her die. Earlier in the film, Matt Damon’s character mentions how the last thing a parent sees is their child. Contrasting this at the end would have made everything feel much more rounded, because, without it, Matt Damon’s character serves no real purpose other than to make the movie about 20 minutes longer. Not to mention, the character is kind of flat, as are many characters in this film. Every character acts as an archetype, and are often more 2 dimensional rather than not. This is partially due to the dialogue. While Nolan has nearly mastered the art of making a film, dialogue has never been his strong suit. That is evident in Interstellar more than any other film, dis-including Dark Knight Rises. So, overall, the film’s visual style is incredibly unique, and the more technical aspects all are near perfection. However, in Interstellar, it seems that Christopher Nolan put the way the film looks over the story. 8.3/10